Learn About The Holocaust

My Saved Research

To help reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, including the Library and Archives Reading Room, is closed until further notice. Staff members are working remotely to answer reference requests to the extent feasible. Reference questions, including those regarding access to collections, may be directed to Reference@ushmm.org. For questions about donating materials, please contact Curator@ushmm.org. Please do not send any materials until the Museum reopens to the public. Thank you for your understanding.

To help reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, including the Library and Archives Reading Room, is closed until further notice. Staff members are working remotely to answer reference requests to the extent feasible. Reference questions, including those regarding access to collections, may be directed to Reference@ushmm.org. For questions about donating materials, please contact Curator@ushmm.org. Please do not send any materials until the Museum reopens to the public. Thank you for your understanding.

Search All 1 Records in Our Collections

The Museum’s Collections document the fate of Holocaust victims, survivors, rescuers, liberators, and others through artifacts, documents, photos, films, books, personal stories, and more. Search below to view digital records and find material that you can access at our library and at the Shapell Center.

Duvet cover made from a US Army parachute by a Jewish family in a displaced persons camp

Object | Accession Number: 2009.372.2

Covering for a blanket made from a United States Army parachute by Ephraim and Sarah Robinson for their family in the Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany, where they lived from 1945-1948. Soon after Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Ephraim and Sarah fled east to Russian controlled territory. They lived in several places as the Soviet Union demanded that Jewish refugees keep moving further east. They had a daughter, Fay, in 1941, in Odessa, and Alice was born in 1944 in Romanovka. When the war ended in May 1945, they returned from Uzbekistan to Bessarabia, where they crossed the border to Poland. In October 1945, they were relocated to Zeilsheim, with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Ephraim, Sarah, and their 3 children, Fay, Alice, and Joseph, born in the camp in 1946, got passage on the first immigrant transport to depart under the Displaced Persons Act, the SS General Black, which arrived in the United States on October 30, 1948.

Long, rectangular cover made from sewing together several pieces of offwhite parachute silk. The edges have cotton basting tape with button holes. On the short sides, the button holes are covered with a piece of cloth that is attached with lattice stitching.

Alice Robinson was born on February 2, 1945, to Ephraim and Sarah Spiegel (Ghingis) Robinson in Romanovka, Bessarabia, her mother's home town. She had an older sister, Fay, who was born in Odessa (Novayadessa, Ukraine) on July 22, 1941. Ephraim and Sarah had fled Poland soon after the invasion by Nazi Germany in September 1939 for Soviet territory. They were in Uzbekistan when the Soviets drove the Germans out of Russia in 1944. The family then returned to Bessarabia. After Alice was born, they illegally crossed the border into Poland. The war ended in Europe in May 1945, and, that October, they were sent to Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS).

Zeilsheim DP camp was operated by UNRRA (United Nations Refugee Relief). Ephraim worked as a photographer, taking hundreds of photographs of camp life. Alice’s younger brother Joseph was born on August 25, 1946, in Zeilsheim. Ephraim wished to go to Palestine, but when that was not possible, decided to go to the US. Ephraim, Sarah, and the 3 young children, Fay, Alice, and Joseph, got passage on the first immigrant transport to the United States after passage of the US Displaced Persons Act. The family sailed on the SS General Black from Bremen on October 21, 1948, and arrived in New York on October 30. The family settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Ephraim became an independent livestock dealer. Fay later married Dr. Alan Shlimovitz and had three children. She earned a college degree in art, and published children's books, as well as a memoir. Alice, later Lev, had children and settled in California. Ephraim, 70, died on July 16. 1985. In 1995, a selection of Ephraim’s photographs of Zeilsheim was published as Das Album von Ephraim Robinson: jüdische Überlebende in DP-Lagern im Nachkriegsdeutschland. Fay, 61, passed away in October 2002.

Ephraim Mayer Robinson (Rubizon) was born in Warsaw, Poland, on January 12, 1915. He received a Bachelor of Science in agronomy in 1938 from the University of Nancy in France and worked in the French dairy industry through 1939. When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, he fled with his wife, Sarah Spiegel (Ghingis), to Russian controlled territory near Bialystok, then to Lemburg in the Ukraine. Their first daughter, Fay, was born in Odessa (Novayadessa, Ukraine) on July 22, 1941. They were living in Uzbekistan when the Red Army drove German forces out of Soviet territory. They went to Sarah's home town of Romanovka, Bessarabia, where Alice was born on February 2, 1945. Ephraim found work in the dairy and animal husbandry industry in each region as they relocated.

After the war ended in Europe in May 1945, the family left Bessarabia, and illegally crossed the border to Poland. In October, with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), they reached Zeilsheim displaced persons camp near Frankfurt, Germany, operated by UNRRA (United Nations Refugee Relief). Ephraim worked as a photographer while at Zeilsheim, taking hundreds of photographs of camp life. A third child, Joseph, was born on August 25, 1946, in Zeilsheim. Ephraim wished to go to Palestine, but when that was not possible, decided to go to the US. Ephraim, Sarah, and their 3 young children, Fay, Alice, and Joseph, got passage on the first immigrant transport to the United States after passage of the US Displaced Persons Act. The family sailed on the SS General Black from Bremen on October 21, 1948, and arrived in New York on October 30. They settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Ephraim became an independent livestock dealer. Fay married Dr. Alan Shlimovitz and had three children. She earned a college degree in art, and published children's books, as well as a memoir. Alice, later Lev, had children and settled in California. Ephraim, 70, died on July 16, 1985. In 1995, a selection of Ephraim’s photographs of Zeilsheim was published as Das Album von Ephraim Robinson: jüdische Überlebende in DP-Lagern im Nachkriegsdeutschland.

Record last modified: 2019-12-05 21:21:56
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn40076

Also in Ephraim Robinson family collection

The collection consists of children's clothing, a duvet cover, a glass slide projector, glass slides, and a photograph album relating to the experiences of Ephraim Robinson and his family as refugees during the Holocaust and as residents of Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany and as emigrants to the United States in the postwar period.

White rabbit fur bonnet worn by two year old Alice Robinson, in the Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany, where she lived from 1945-1948. Alice's parents, Ephraim and Sarah had left Poland soon after September 1939, when it is occupied by Nazi Germany. They fled east to Russian controlled territory where the Soviet Union demanded that Jewish refugees keep moving further east. They had a daughter, Fay, in 1941, in Odessa, and Alice was born in 1944 in Romanovka. When the war ended in May 1945, they returned from Uzbekistan to Bessarabia, where they crossed the border to Poland. In October 1945, they were relocated to Zeilsheim, with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Ephraim, Sarah, and their 3 children, Fay, Alice, and Joseph, born in the camp in 1946, got passage on the first immigrant transport to depart under the Displaced Persons Act, the SS General Black, which arrived in the United States on October 30, 1948.

Leitz projector for glass slides with case, trays, and a key ring used by Ephraim Mayer Robinson to view photographs that he took of activities in Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany from 1945-1948. Soon after Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Ephraim and his wife, Sarah, fled east to Soviet territory. They relocated often as the Soviet Union demanded that Jewish refugees keep moving further east. They had a daughter, Fay, in 1941, in Odessa, and Alice was born in 1944 in Romanovka, Bessarabia. When the war ended in May 1945, they returned from Uzbekistan to Bessarabia, where they crossed the border to Poland. In October 1945, they were relocated to Zeilsheim, with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Ephraim, Sarah, and their 3 children, Fay, Alice, and Joseph, born in the camp in 1946, got passage on the first immigrant transport to depart under the Displaced Persons Act, the SS General Black, which arrived in the United States on October 30, 1948.

Collection of materials documenting the experiences of the Robinson family in the Zeilsheim Displaced Persons (DP) camp and after their immigration to the United States in October 1948. The collection includes a photo album compiled by Ephraim Robinson of the Zeilsheim DP camp.

White rabbit fur hand muff worn by Alice Robinson, age 2, in the Zeilsheim displaced persons camp in Germany, where she lived from 1945-1948.Alice's parents, Ephraim and Sarah had left Poland soon after September 1939, when it is occupied by Nazi Germany. They fled east to Russian controlled territory where the Soviet Union demanded that Jewish refugees keep moving further east. They had a daughter, Fay, in 1941, in Odessa, and Alice was born in 1944 in Romanovka. When the war ended in May 1945, they returned from Uzbekistan to Bessarabia, where they crossed the border to Poland. In October 1945, they were relocated to Zeilsheim, with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Ephraim, Sarah, and their 3 children, Fay, Alice, and Joseph, born in the camp in 1946, got passage on the first immigrant transport to depart under the Displaced Persons Act, the SS General Black, which arrived in the United States on October 30, 1948.

Learn about over 1,000 camps and ghettos in Volume I and II of this encyclopedia, which are available as a free PDF download. This reference provides text, photographs, charts, maps, and extensive indexes.